HP Family Traditions: Those who were Left Behind
by DarkIceAngelFlare
Summary: Written for the HP Holiday Challenge. Each chapter will be about some wizard family tradition, and will mainly feature the characters alive after the Battle of Hogwarts, i.e. no next gen (except Teddy). All I promise is good grammar and no romance! Currently completed: Malfoys, Weasleys and Blacks.
1. Carols in the Snow: A Malfoy Christmas

Prompt: Caroling in the Snow

**A Malfoy Christmas**

* * *

Caroling was such a muggle tradition. And like all good Malfoys, Draco hated all things muggle. Except for Mars Bars, but he blamed that on his mother – Narcissa had eaten an excessive amount of them during her pregnancy. His father used to call it a Black trait, until Aunt Bella tried to melt the flesh off of his face for daring to insult her family.

That was all besides the point.

What Draco was really interested in contemplating this cold Christmas Eve, his first as the head of the Malfoy family, was caroling. Specifically, what he was going to do with the bunch of brats who were currently circling the streets of his London townhouse, begging his neighbors for treats in exchange for an offbeat tune.

Were this five years ago, he would never have had the problem: Malfoys didn't do townhouses or Muggles, least of all on Christmas! Were he younger, he would have been at a ball held by some Pureblood family or the other, dressed to the nines with an entourage at his side and at least one girl hanging off his arm, with more waiting in the wings.

But there were no Pureblood balls this year, nor any time in the future. It was suicidal to even consider it, what with the ministry waiting to take the first sign of blood prejudice as reason to lock up those who had escaped the Death Eater trials. For Draco, who had actually been branded by He-Who-Never-Used-To-Be-Named, the threat was far closer to home than most of his acquaintances.

So instead of resting on his lapels in his beautiful manor like the other Slytherins he had graduated with, he was stuck in muggle suburbia just to prove to the Aurors hidden across the street and the dammed Animagus reporter in his garden that he was reformed. He hated the new world order of Wizarding Britain.

The brat pack were getting closer, and the brunette on the left was already eying his holly-festooned porch. How Draco longed to cast any spell, even if it was just a simple Muggle Repelling one, to keep them away from him. But to do so would render all the efforts of his past year useless.

If he had to visit one more Muggle orphanage, he would scream. As it were, he was already out of magical disinfectant from all the filthy pawing non-magical children insisted on doing every time they saw him. Why was it that the Malfoy family had to pay the most compensation for the muggle death toll, when neither of his parents had played a large role at the end of the war? Hell, his mother had helped Potter in the end! If anyone should be paying, it should be the Lestranges or the Black Family (Aunt Bella had practically been an army all on her own)!

Just once he would like to be left alone. He wanted a break from the paparazzi circus of his life, from all the constant scrutiny from people just waiting to hand him over to the Dementors, from all the bloody Muggles he was forced to cosy up to every bloody day and goddamit, they were coming to his door!

Maybe he should just pretend he wasn't home. That could work, right? Except he had heard stories of what suburban children did to the houses of people who ignored them during holidays. Zabini would never let him live it down if a bunch of kids managed to egg his house.

So when the doorbell rang scant minutes later, Draco reluctantly left his living room to open it.

"Merry Christmas, mister!" the group piped the moment he was in sight.

"I don't have any treats for you," Draco coolly answered, cutting straight to the point. "However, I do have some spare pounds if you could give me just one song only."

"Oh no, mister, for money we have a specific list!" a young boy blurted out, no doubt excited by the prospect of pocket change.

"A list?" Draco inwardly groaned. Luck was not on his side today.

Giving him perky smiles that he wanted to _Sectumsempra_ off of their faces, the group opened with a horrifically cheerful song.

"Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way…"

Draco maintained a poker face, his new default expression that was so vastly inferior to his sneering expression of old. It was a sad world where Purebloods couldn't openly show their disdain for the - what's that new word people keep using for Muggles? _Mundane_, that was it. His father would have had a seizure dealing with all of these new unwritten restrictions.

"You better watch out! You'd better not cry!"

He could still remember the first time his father had taught him about the etiquette of Purebloods. He learnt how to lock away weakness, how to hide fear behind arrogance and tears behind disdain. He recalled spending his fifth Christmas in front of his mother's cosmetic mirror, learning through replication all of his father's "public body language". He only got his presents after his mother was satisfied with the differences between his real smile and his fake one. At least that was one lesson that had not been wasted in this new era.

"Come, they told me, parapapapum!"

He remembered with painful clarity the Christmas of his fifth year, when he had realized that he would be taking the mark sooner than expected. He remembered the pride in his father's eyes when the Dark Lord had asked for Draco by name, and promised him glory should he serve as faithfully as Lucius. He would never forget how his mother had held him for hours that night, as if afraid he would disappear beneath the weight of soon-to-be-given Mark. He still had some of his father's Christmas present from that year: the largest collection of medical potions and remedies he had ever encountered.

"Deck the halls with strings of holly, falalalala…"

He wished he could go back to when he was younger, to when his family was whole again. He wanted those days before Hogwarts, before Voldemort's return, when his father and mother used to create the most amazing decorations for their own ball using nothing but their imaginations and wands. He wished he could go back just to appreciate that safety and joy he felt seeing his parents invent spells as easily as they breathed. Lucius had always praised Narcissa's skill in forming ice sculptures that breathed fire or created artificial snow storms, while Mother had once confessed to him that it was Father's eggnog-making skills that had made her agree to marrying him.

"We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!"

The Muggles were nearing the end, thank Salazar. He already had their money prepared – anything to get out of the snow that had begun fluttering down. He paid them no mind as they thanked him and scuttled away.

Instead, his mind drifted back to one of his first Christmas memories.

_Draco sneezed as he patted down the last bit of snow on his snowman._

_"Is someone getting sick?"_

_"Nu-uh!" the little Malfoy heir denied vehemently._

_Lucius chuckled as he adjusted one of the snowman's stick arms that had become lopsided. "Whatever you say, my little dragon."_

_"'M not so little no more!" Draco pouted as he was swept up in his father's arms._

_"Of course not," Narcissa assured him, walking towards the patio. "You're already four, after all."_

_Draco nodded in agreement. "Bigger too!"_

_"Yes, you're almost too tall for me to carry around," Lucius remarked, following his wife. He chuckled again at his son's crestfallen look._

_"Once Daddy can't carry you anymore, you can learn to ride the horses," Narcissa promised as she handed over some hot chocolate to the two most important people in her life._

_Draco looked torn between being excited for the horse riding lessons and being sad for the loss of his father's indulgence. He settled for cuddling the older Malfoy while enjoying the warm beverage._

_For a long time, the family of three sat in silence, simply enjoying the sight of falling snow. A house elf whisked away their empty mugs, but otherwise there was nothing to indicate that this family was any different from the norm._

_It was Narcissa who noticed Draco beginning to nod off. Knowing it would be impossible to separate him from his dad, she nestled into Lucius' side. Draco opened his mouth to protest against bed time, but Narcissa didn't bother with arguments. Instead she softly began to sing._

_"Silent night. Holy night."_

_Draco's nose wrinkled at the unfamiliar song, so different from the usual lullabies._

_"All is calm. All is bright."_

_Lucius drew his son closer as he joined in the next verse._

_"Round yon virgin mother and child."_

_Narcissa stroked Draco's hair tenderly._

_"Holy infant, so tender and mild."_

_Lucius placed a kiss on his wife's cheek before clasping her hand tightly._

_"Sleep in heavenly peace."_

_Draco sank into his parents' warmth as they sang the last verse together softly._

_"Sleep in heavenly peace."_

* * *

**Sorry to all the people looking for an update to Romance Dawn! I swear I'm working on it, but it's taking forever to get it how I want it to be. This is my first entry to the HP Holiday Challenge, as well as my entry to the Diagon Alley Christmas 2014 Competition.**

**word count: 1 570 **


	2. Jack Frost: A Black Family Tradition

Prompt: Jack Frost (and maybe Nostalgic Winters too)

** A Black Family Tradition**

* * *

People always assumed that the barrier between the spirit world and the real world was only weak during Halloween. They couldn't be more wrong. There was no real barrier at all between the worlds: it was just a pain in the arse to make the journey. Halloween only got its reputation because of all the carpools and buses that offered rides to spiritual beings on that day.

Sirius didn't expect the living to know that, as he who had been alive not too long ago would never have thought the afterlife was so domestic. It was just like being alive, except for the part where you couldn't die again. And most of the Death Eaters were in Hell. Snape was still around, unfortunately, but given the fact that they could now really kill each other (the other day James was ripped into pieces – it took Sirius eight hours to help put him back together again), they were on good terms.

It turns out that James and Lily had been visiting them ever since they had died, just on random dates. James spent months in Azkaban with him, keeping him company even if Sirius never noticed. Lily had improved tremendously in Potions after sitting through so many of Snape's NEWT classes. The few less painful transformations Remus had had when he had thought the Marauders were all gone, were due to Prongs' visits (since apparently Moony was more in touch with the spiritual than Remus).

Of course, that also meant that the spirits had seen some pretty embarrassing things. Lily had stumbled in on a naked Snape more than once, including when he was in the shower (how she could even claim that was accidental, Sirius was unsure). James refused to shut up about all the things Padfoot had endured during his runaway year (there was only one girl who had tried to do the nasty with his dog side, no matter what James said! And no, there were no men in this situation, so stop laughing, you stupid stag!). Not to mention, the first time Sirius got to join the Potter couple on their trip to the real world, he had stumbled on his cousin and Remus doing the deed ("I didn't even know you were interested in good old Nymphie!" "Don't call me that!" "And, really, doggie style? Just perpetuate the werewolf stereotype, why don't you, Moony?" – oh yes, he had made sure that Remus had had little time to mourn the fact that he was no longer alive).

This was now his ***insert impressive number here*** visit to the land of the living. Yeah, Sirius Black was not good with remembering silly little details like that – was anyone really surprised by this?

Either way, one of the few Blacks not in hell was currently enjoying the week before Christmas with the old Marauders (minus the Rat-that-burned-in-Hell) and two honorary Marauders (Lily and Tonks). They had pitched together to pay for the infamous cat bus which served the spirit world and were now in a snowy field watching Harry James Potter play with Remus' kid while Andromeda Tonks nee Black supervised.

It was a surreal experience for Sirius. Sure, he had heard Tonks mention it, but to see Prongslet with a godson of his own really brought reality home. There was nothing wrong in Harry being a godfather, and Sirius was honestly glad for him but… All he could think about was how he had fallen short of his own dogfatherly duties.

His friends had tried to justify it to make him feel better (he was a convicted felon, he was in Azkaban, blah blah blah) but Sirius knew he was a terrible godfather. He could not even say he had left Azkaban for Harry, because everyone knew it was only to get to Peter. He had barely made any impact in Harry's life, other then to give him yet another traumatic memory, another death that Harry blamed himself for.

He had never taken Harry out for something like this, unless he counted that one time on Harry's first Christmas. However, the Boy-Who-Lived would never recall something like that, so Sirius disregarded the thought. Really, he had failed on every count.

He could feel Lily's eyes glaring disapprovingly at him, as if she could hear his thoughts. James patted his shoulder but otherwise remained silent.

The little tyke's hair was blue as he raced through the snow. Teddy couldn't be more than a year or two, but it was hard to tell. Time passed differently in the real world. The last Lupin apparently knew enough words to strong sentences together, interspersed liberally with "Uncle Harry!".

"Teddy, I think that's enough," Andromeda spoke up eventually, drawing the spirits out of their silence.

("Mum looks old," Tonks noted. "Never thought I'd see the day she let go of her anti-aging cream. Or was it a charm?")

"Aww, but Granny!" Teddy whined. His hair became black while his eyes became blue and watery in the perfect puppy dog pout. "Can't we play for just a little longer?"

"No," Andromeda replied coolly. "Besides, Harry has to go back to work. Don't you, Harry?"

"Yeah, I guess," Harry admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

Teddy immediately began protesting.

("He's gotten big, don't you think?" Remus asked his wife with a proud smile. "He's probably two, I think."

"Nah, definitely three. I'm surprised by his control though," Tonks replied fondly.)

"Goodbye, Teddy," Harry said solemnly with a fierce hug. "I'll pop by after work."

"Yeah, okay," was the glum reply. Harry looked guilty before apparating away.

All of the boy's previous enthusiasm seemed to leech away. He fiddled with the snow halfheartedly, while his parents hovered near, clucking sympathetically.

Sirius wondered if he could sympathize with Harry. Did his godson look at Lupin and see Remus? Was work his way away from the dark memories of their deaths or did the 'Chosen One' really have no control over things like that?

…Did Harry ever cry after leaving his godson's side?

"Teddy, come here for a bit," Andromeda ordered suddenly. The little boy hurried to his grandmother – the picture of perfect obedience. "I want to tell you a little bit about the Black family."

All of the spirits protested, but the living carried on, unmindful of their ire.

"You remember that both you and Harry are part of the Black family, right?" Seeing her charge nod, she continued. "Now, the Black family has its faults, and you will hear about them for the rest of your life probably, but there were some fine figures in that family. Take a look at Sirius and Regulus, for example. Both of them gave their life in the fight against Voldemort."

Sirius felt a glow of pride at that. For once, he had redeemed the family name instead of besmirching it. And to think his little brother was included! Really, Andy was the best!

"But there were others too. Today I'm going to tell you about one of them. The prankster blood in your veins runs deeper than just the Marauders, you know."

Vaguely, Sirius recalled hearing something like this. It was after he'd graduated, and he was pretty sure Andy had been the one to tell him too.

"His name was Cepheus Serpens Black, and he was the twelfth head of the Black family, just after the Purges had swept through the land," Andromeda settled in for a good story. "The purges, or 'witch hunts' as Muggles once called them, had devastated the magical population and those who survived were bitter and broken. Many had lost so much that they had completely given up, but not Cepheus. He looked at the darkness in the world, and decided to create light."

Remus snorted, obviously seeing the irony. But Sirius was far away, lost in his memories.

_"Look at all the snow, Harrykins! But be careful or Jack Frost will bite your nose." _

_"Where did the snow come from, James?"_

_"Don't you know, Lily? Jack Frost is a Black… And I may be missing an invisibility cloak."_

"In those days, all the Pureblood families lived together for protection in a huge mansion. However, one day they all woke up in an ice castle. The next time, it was an ice fort. Children's self-defense classes dissolved into snow ball fights – especially when balls filled with Cheer-Up charms would appear from nowhere and attack. There wasn't a window in their house, and later some Muggle houses were involved, that didn't get some kind of iced artwork drawn on. Some days there would be animated snowmen walking around and other days there would be flying reindeer. The wizards, adult and children alike, knew it was Cepheus but the Muggles who were sometimes affected by his pranks did not. They started calling him 'Jack Frost' and Cepheus was so taken by the name that he put a charm on it. If any little wizard child," here Andromeda gave her grandson a pointed look, "was born into the Black family or had a Black godparent, they could summon his spirit back from the death to experience his powers."

("I don't ever remember being told this," Tonks complained.

"Do you think it's real?" Remus frowned. "Did he have a Horcux or something?")

Lily and James shared a knowing look, thinking back to their own Jack Frost problems, which included being chased around for hours by snowballs and the time Harry woke up in a crib made of carved ice.

"Granny, can I-?"

"Of course you can," Andromeda handed over her wand, "but just this once, okay?"

Teddy frowned. "What do I do with this?" he asked, swishing the wood ineffectively.

"Make three figure eights in front of you, chanting 'Jack Frost, I summon thee!' each time," Andromeda explained.

Face screwed up in concentration, Teddy complied.

At first, nothing happened. Then the wind picked up. Snow began to swirl around the tiny Metamorphagus, who squealed in surprise. A snow ball hit him in the back and ended the whirlwind.

The living and the dead had been temporarily blinded by the white flakes flying through the air. As it finally settled, a new scene stole their breath away.

Made of compact snow, a wolf pawed the ground before Teddy. On his back was a rabbit, whose ears and nose kept changing size. A little further away, a dog trotted by the side of a stag wearing a crown of lily flowers.

"Jack Frost," Teddy whispered in awe. "Granny, it's really true! It's Jack Frost!"

Andromeda blinked back tears while nodding quickly. "You had better play with him while he's here. Spirits can't stay too long."

With a whoop, Teddy took off after the snow figures.

"You can come out now," Andromeda said when her charge was out of earshot.

"Did you like it?"

Harry's head suddenly pitched up just next to the former Black.

"Very appropriate," Andromeda praised. "Sirius would be proud."

Harry laughed as he charmed some snow owls to life and sent them after his godson. "Sirius was always proud of me. But I do enjoy fulfilling this part of my duties. After all, it's a Black family tradition." The last part was accompanied by a blinding grin.

_"Absolutely not, Padfoot. Harry's barely six months old! What if he catches a cold?"_

_"Prongs, this is something I have to do. Every Black godfather has to play Jack Frost! It's just about the only good tradition my family has!"_

_"…Alright, fine. But if Lily gets mad, it's on you!"_

_"Yeah, yeah. Hey, do you mind if I borrow your cloak?"_

_"Go for it. Maybe we can make it a Potter family tradition too."_

_"Don't worry; I'll teach Harry all about it when he has a godson of his own."_

_S_irius may never have had the chance to help Harry grow, but it looked like his godson was doing just fine on his own.

"Merry Christmas, Harry," he whispered.

* * *

**Omake:**

"…Hey, why am I a bunny rabbit? I was a bloody Auror, you know!"

"Please, I'm just a flower: an accessory to James! I didn't even get a body!"

* * *

**Lame story is lame, but I was in a rush. Sorry for the draggy cliched storyline but it's Christmas so this should be expected. I will eventually update "Romance Dawn"! Until then, feel free to drop me a review for these HP one shots :) Thanks to Guest (I'm so glad you liked it!) and Codename JellyBean for the reviews and LadyChris07 for the follow! **


	3. The Grinch's Orange Socks: Weasley Twins

**Prompt: The Grinch's Orange Socks/Candy Cane Wands**

**Twin Innovation**

* * *

"George, George, wake up!"

"Goo awaaaaaaaaay."

"George, Twin Law commands you to get up!"

"Lies," George groaned, even as he mentally prepared himself to deal with whatever was going to happen at this ungodly hour of the morning.

"When one twin is hit with inspiration, the other must awaken! That is law!"

"Stop rewriting the code, Fred," George finally peeled open his eyes to deal with his maniacally grinning brother. "'Snot fair."

"You're mumbling again," Fred singsonged as he danced out of the way of a flying pillow aiming for his head.

"Whaddaya want?" George growled, too tired to try again. It was three in the morning and they both had the shop to deal with in a few hours.

In answer, Fred solemnly held out a tiny box.

George sighed before reading the bright red lettering. "What the hell is a Grinch?"

"Well, that's the question, isn't it?" Fred's eyes shone as he explained to his brother how a muggleborn friend had given it to him, saying that the Grinch had pulled off the ultimate prank. "We can't have that, now, can we, George? It's either us or the Marauders."

So there they were, two weeks before Christmas, watching a Christmas "DVD" on one of the strange Muggle contraptions they had been given, without barely a clue as to how to use it.

One call to an irate Lee and then an all day Muggle helpline (using a fellytone, which George quite liked) and they were all set up to watch the strange "movie" on their "telly".

"I'm disappointed," Fred sighed when it was over. "He ended up giving everything back. What kind of prank is that?"

"I guess it's the good kind. You want pranks to be funny, not to hurt people, right?" George asked.

"Some people deserve it."

They both knew that they were thinking of the same brother, but avoided talking about it. Even though they were never really close, it still hurt when Percy had left.

"But I rather liked the character," George said, rubbing his chin.

"Yeah, he was pretty cool…" Fred trailed off as he too fell into contemplation.

Silence fell, before they grinned at each other. Only the owners of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes could pull something that spectacular off.

* * *

Ginny eyed their costumes speculatively as she entered her brothers' shop. "What on earth are you guys supposed to be?"

"I'm the Grinch who stole Christmas," Fred grinned.

"And I'm the Nightmare before Christmas." George chimed in.

"The what?"

"Those are pretty cool, actually," Hermione commented as she stepped closer for a better look. "But most of your customers won't get it."

"In the spirit of Christmas—" Fred began.

"-It's only right to put aside our blood differences—" George continued.

"-And bring together Muggle and Wizard traditions—"

"-For a brighter holiday."

"That's the WWW way!" they said together, sweeping their hands outwards to indicate their rapidly depleting Christmas merchandise.

Muggle Christmas books stood next to "Projection Balls" which was their newly patented version of a DVD without need of a telly. Zero, from the Nightmare Before Christmas, animated plushies danced next to Grinches belting out a mix-up of carols that gave customers fits of giggles.

"Why does your Grinch have orange socks?" Hermione asked with a frown.

Fred winked at her. "It's a Wizard Grinch, Hermione."

"Didn't anyone tell you wizards are color blind?" George threw in, indicating the eyesore bright robes of many of their customers.

"Tis the season, Gred," said Fred as she left with a huff. "We did well."

"We should do this every year, Forge. Out with the old—"

"—and in with the new."

"It will be our way," George promised with a smile.

* * *

"And that's why we stay away from mountain caves," Luna concluded as she led the group of children into the WWW shop.

"Because of the Grinch?" asked Teddy, eyebrows crinkled together.

"Does he really exist?" Albus said.

"Of course he does," Luna replied breezily, "so stay away from green men and mountains, okay?"

Ginny rolled her eyes fondly at her friend before greeting her brother. "What's new, George?"

The one-eared man grinned as he pointed out several new products. "My personal favourites are these two," he confided. "First, 'The Christmas Carol' premium pack, including an improved 'No Pensieve Memory Blaster' and a Trelawney-approved 'Deadly Divination Reader'. Second are the new Candy Cane Wands."

"Candy cane wands?" Ginny asked skeptically.

"They create snow, turn socks orange and can make anything taste like chocolate."

"Not exactly pranks though," Harry said as he plucked one of the wands in question from the display.

George shrugged. "It's about having fun more than being funny."

_And I have a promise to keep_, he added silently to himself. _Out with the old, in with the new. The Weasley Twins' Way…._

Even if there was only one twin left.


End file.
